Improvement in portable houses



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN BURNSIDE, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN PORTABLE HOUSES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 36,701, dated October 2l, 1362.

ATo all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, JOHN BUENsIDE, of the city and county of Washington, and District of Columbia, have invented a new, useful, and Improved Portable House; and I do hereby declare that the same is described and represented in the following specifications and drawings.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my improved house, I will proceed to describe'its copstruction and use, referring to the drawings in which the same letters indicate like parts in each of the gures.

Figure l is an elevation of the front end Without the end boarding on the right of the center. Fig. 2 is an elevation of one side without the` boarding to show the frame. Fig. 3 is a top View of one-half the length of the house.

The nature of my invention and improve-v ment in houses consists in some hooks in the posts, in connection with some notches in the proper size, according to the size of the house intended to be made, their upper ends joined by halving, or in some convenient manner, so as to be held by putting a pin through to hold their ends together in pairs like rafters, each pair'being also connected by the collarbeamsB B, fitted to dovetailing scores in the posts to aid in tying them together. The posts A A are also connected together by the braces C, fastened to them, and together by screw-bolts or pins and keys. Thelower ends of the posts may be inserted in the ground or sawed off, so as to stand on the ground, and the posts should be provided with staples D for the hooks E in the sills F, and the doorboard at each end of the house should be perforated for the pins G to pass through them into the sills F,to tie the sills together, which are hooked to the posts and prevent the lower ends of the posts from spreading or slipping out, in case they are4 not inserted in the ground.

To make a doorway I fasten two posts R R to the collar-beam B, and fasten their lower ends to the sills F F, or insert them in the ground, as may be preferred, which completes the frame of the house. To cover this frame,

for the ends I saw boards H Hof proper lengths and saw notches in their upper edges, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. l at I I, and drive hooks J .I through the notches in the boards into the posts, (and door-frames at the end where the door is,) as shown in the drawings, so that the lower edge of one board will hold the top edge of the board next below it all the way up, so that the boards can be put up and taken down with great facility Whenever it is desirable to move the house and set it up in another place, and the ends of the boards H H form a series of steps to stand on when putting up the upper boards ofthe covering, both sides and ends. For the sides I saw boards K K of a proper length and drive hooks L L into one edge and staples M M into the posts A A, so as to hook the hooksin the edges of the boards into the staples and let them hang, as shown in the drawings, the lower edge of one board lapping onto the edge of the board below it to shed the rain and snow. For the top ridge I make a cap by nailing the edges of two boards together, as shownat N, and nail a piece of sheet metal, I?,V on each end with a hole in it for the hook Q in the edge of the upper end board, which completes the covering of the house. The postsmay be grooved, as shown at S S, to

conduct the water to the ground that runs in around the hooks, and the posts R R may be' made to extend enough higher than the door to put in a window. If the house is to stand some time there may be one or more j oists laid on the roof to hold the boards down, and the ends of these joists may be inserted in the ground and their top ends fastened together in some convenient manner, and, ifpreferred that wayhthe roof-boards may be made to eX- tend a few inches beyond the ends and over the end boards.

I believe I have described and represented my improved portable house so as to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use it, I will now state what I desire to secure by Letters Patent.

I claim- The hooks in the posts, in combination with the notches in the boards, for the purpose of making the lower edge of one board hold the top edge of the board next below it, substantially as described.

Witnesses: JOHN BURNSIDE.

J. DENNIS, Jr., W. THoMPsoN. 

